December 2, 2012

This week’s Sunday Supper topic was to make a dish by our favorite celebrity chef. I don’t know about you, but my husband and I LOVE Emeril’s recipes. They are always so flavorful. They often use one of his spice blends, although this one does not, which really add a punch to the dish they are being used in. I prefer to prepare his spice blends at home, over purchasing them in the store. They taste better and homemade blends tend to have less sodium than the store bought ones.

Now deciding which Emeril recipe to share proved to not be too difficult. It happened to be the weekend after Thanksgiving when I was deciding what to make and I had a hamhock to do something with. Well, I had recently been perusing a new local restaurant’s menu and saw they serve Red Beans & Rice on Monday and call it Laundry Night. Apparently, in New Orleans (one my most favorite cities in the world) back in the day, the women of the household would let Red Beans simmer on the stove all day Monday, using the hamhock from Sunday night’s dinner, while they tended to the laundry.

I liked the story and loved the thought of Red Beans bubbling away in the crockpot all day. When looking for a recipe, I stumbled upon this one, and knowing Emeril never disappoints, eagerly bought the ingredients and got started. I doubled this recipe so my hubby and I would have some and so I could take a batch to ladies at work for lunch. It was a hit with him and the office…as if there was any doubt :0)

Do you like Emeril? What’s your favorite Emeril Recipe? (I also adore his Jambalaya)

Directions

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute the onions, bell peppers, celery, salt, cayenne, black pepper and thyme for about 5 minutes. Pour into a crockpot. Add the bay leaves, hamhock, sausage, beans, garlic, and enough water to cover the contents. Cook on low all day (about 6-8 hours). Use a wooden spoon to mash about half of the mixture against the side of the pot before serving. Add more water if it becomes too thick. The mixture should be soupy but not watery. Remove the bay leaves and serve with white rice.

Please join on us via Twitter for #SundaySupper on December 2, 2012, throughout the day. In the evening, we will meet at 7 PM EST for our weekly #SundaySupper live chat. All you have to do is follow the #SundaySupper hashtag or you can follow us through TweetChat.

December 30, 2010

If you are brave enough to slice up three pounds of this season’s especially pungent onions, this soup will be well worth your tears. A great beginning to any dinner, or enjoyed in a mug, curled on the couch watching really bad tv.

Crush and peel the garlic. You don’t have to mince it; it will caramelize and turn soft and sweet as it cooks. Caramelize the garlic in the olive oil and butter.

Pour in the onions, season with salt and pepper, and stir around just until the onions are all coated in the olive oil/butter.

Add in the fresh thyme and the bay leaf and let the onions caramelize, about 20 minutes.

Once the onions are caramelized and have cooked down, pour in the stock, about 4-6 cups depending on whether you prefer your soup more onion-y or more soup-y.

Then, pour in the beer and simmer, uncovered, for at least an hour and as much as three hours, tasting occasionally to adjust the flavors.

Meanwhile, slice down your bread. Stale bread is perfectly okay for this, just heat it up a bit in a warm (250ºF) oven first to soften it. Toast the bread; you can rub both sides with a cut clove of garlic first, if you like. You’ll want 2 pieces of bread per person – one for the bottom of the bowl, and one for on top.

Grate together about 1/2 cup each of parmesan, gouda, and mozzarella and set it aside.

Preheat your broiler. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaf from the soup.

TO SERVE: drop a toast slice in the bottom of each bowl. Ladle in the soup and cover with a second slice of toast. Then cover the toast with cheese. Be generous! You want the cheese to seal in the soup and drape over the edge of the bowl.

Broil for a few minutes, until the cheese is brown and bubbling on top. Garnish with a little fresh thyme, and serve.

December 28, 2010

Unfortunately, hypertension (high blood pressure) is something many adults suffer from. Whether it results from way of life, or genes, one way to help control daily intake is by preparing your own broth — beef and chicken, to be used in soups and other dishes that you make at home. Canned broth and bullion cubes are packed with sodium and, whether you have high blood pressure or not, it’s best to steer clear of them. (I know I’ve used bullion in previous recipes, but I’ve just recently had this epiphany.)

I used this beef stock in what resulted in the richest French Onion Soup I’ve ever had. Animal bones and meat naturally have some sodium, so adding salt isn’t necessary.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rinse the bones with cold water and pat dry. Place the vegetables in a single layer in a large roasting pan and add the bones on top. Roast, turning the bones a few times, until well browned; about 1 hour.

Transfer the bones and vegetables to a large soup pot, discarding fat from the roasting pan. Deglaze the pan with a couple of cups of water over high heat, scraping up all the brown bits. Add this to the bones, along with the cubed meat, tomato paste, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and parsley. Pour in cold water to cover the bones and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and skim off any foam that rises to the surface. Do not stir. Add peppercorns, and continue to simmer, uncovered, for about 4 hours, skimming from time to time. (Rumor has it, the best way to really cook this down is by simmering on low overnight. Proceed at your own risk if you choose to do so.)

Strain stock and discard solids. Cool and then refrigerate overnight. The following day, remove and discard fat that has risen to the top, and discard any debris that has sunk to the bottom. Salt before using or, if planning to reduce, wait to add salt until later. Can be stored in the refrigerator for several days, or divided into smaller quantities and frozen for future use, up to 6 months.

November 29, 2010

I have prepared over a half a dozen recipes in the past few weeks, and everything has been outstanding. Seriously. These are blow your hair back kinda concoctions. I had a taste for Paella about a month ago and stumbled upon this recipe. OMG. It’s soo good, I’ve already made it twice this month. I considered having a Spanish themed Thanksgiving so I could make it a third.

I tweaked the original recipe a little by adding some additional meats/seafood, but this is definitely a dish I’ll be making for years to come…especially for company. It’s soooo good, soooo easy and everyone thinks it’s a really exotic and difficult dish to make. And it’s okay to let ’em keep thinking that ;0)